The invention relates to an articulated fitting for vehicle seats, particularly motor vehicle seats.
Normally, the articulated fittings for vehicle seats having back rests which can be both adjusted to different angles of inclination adapted to the requirements of the seat user during use of the seat and which can also be folded forward in order to facilitate access to a seat arranged behind the seat are made of two pivotally connected elements. One extends in the direction of the back rest and the other extends essentially in the direction of the associated seat portion. The latter element, which is called the lower fitting element, is hinged to the seat frame near the forward end thereof. The folding axis therefore lies farther forward than the pivot axis about which the back rest is pivoted to adjust its angle of inclination. A hook, by means of which a pin or another piece of material of the seat frame can be grasped, serves as the folding lock. If the hook is hinged to the seat frame, a pin or another piece of material of the lower fitting element serves as the folding lock. The disadvantage of these known articulated fittings is that the upper edge of the back rest first moves upward toward the vehicle roof during a folding movement, before the path of movement turns downward again. If the back rest is provided with a head rest, then at least in those situations when this head rest is adjusted to the highest possible position, it is possible that the head rest will hit the vehicle roof, thereby preventing the back rest from being folded completely forward. In most cases with these articulated fittings, one must also take care that the folding lock moves completely into the closed condition on both sides of the seat after the back rest has been folded back into the rearward end position. A further disadvantage is that with vehicle models which come in both two-door and four-door versions, the attachment of the fitting elements to the seat portion is different in the two-door version than it is in the four-door version.
An unpublished articulated fitting of the above-described type which has an intermediate element in addition to the upper and lower fitting elements, which intermediate element is pivotally connected with the upper fitting element on one side and with the lower fitting element on the other side experiences the same disadvantages.